Extensive learning features, including activities, chapter summaries, learning outcomes, in-text and self-assessment questions, Explanation and Enrichment boxes, references and further reading, offer full support for learning, making this the ideal resource for any student, regardless of prior scientific knowledge.

Custom-developed multimedia content, on the associated DVD, enriches the learning process still further, helping you to get even more out of the resource.

Online Resource Centre features additional materials for both lecturers and students, enhancing the book's value as a teaching and learning tool.

Pain is a paradoxical phenomenon - aiding human survival by warning us to retreat from damaging stimuli and rest while injuries heal, and yet causing immense human suffering when it becomes intractable. This is one of many puzzling features of pain examined in this book. What common properties are shared by pains triggered by noxious stimuli such as cuts and those triggered by social rejection, or empathy with the pain of another? How can a placebo, an inert substance which
someone believes is an analgesic, reduce the pain of a migraine or a sprained ankle?

The central argument of Pain is that only an integrated understanding of biology and psychology can explain the roots of pain in the nervous system and the relationship with mental events in modifying the experience of pain. Interactive animations on the accompanying DVD illustrate how tissue damage initiates signals in the nervous system, which the brain perceives as pain at the site of the injury. Videotaped interviews with people suffering from chronic pain and with health professionals working in pain clinics illuminate the underlying theories of pain and its treatment in the
context of personal accounts. A discussion of the 'gate theory' of pain provides a scientific rationale for the efficacy of placebos and cognitive therapies in treating the pain of a physical stimulus. This leads to an explanation for the exacerbation of pain when people make catastrophic interpretations of their situation and its alleviation by techniques such as visualisation. The book concludes with an explanation of the 'placebo effect' and a discussion of different methods of treating pain, including surgical and chemical interventions and psychological techniques, illustrated by videos and animations on the DVD.

The Online Resource Centre features:

For lecturers who are registered adopters of the book: - Figures from the book in electronic format, available to download

For students: Access to ROUTES, a searchable internet database of online resources compiled by academic staff and subject-specialist librarians.

Readership: Undergraduates studying biomedical science, human biology, and health science, particularly those with an interest in public health. Also a valuable reference for health professionals requiring a straightforward introduction to the subject.

"This accessible book introduces the reader to types of pain, how the nervous system processes pain and how psychological factors affect pain, such as a persons expectations or sense of control. It also discusses biological treatments (e.g. aspirin, morphine) and psychological interventions (e.g. cognitive-behavioural therapy). The book includes useful features to support learning, such as self-assessment questions and a DVD with animations and videos." - The Psychologist

1: Pain: a global health problem
1.1 A sensory and emotional experience
1.2 A psychobiological approach to pain
1.3 Measuring pain
2: Describing and classifying pain
2.1 The time factor
2.2 The range of uses of the term 'pain'
2.3 A fundamental distinction
3: How to explain pain: The basic principles
3.1 Pain, evolution and the human zoo
3.2 The nature of pain
3.3 Interacting factors underlying pain
3.4 The link between stimuli and pain
3.5 Sociocultural, religious and gender factors
3.6 The role of the brain
3.7 The study of mind and consciousness
4: How the body works
4.1 Body systems
4.2 Cells
4.3 Homeostasis
4.4 The endocrine system
5: The nervous system
5.1 Nerves, neurons and axons
5.2 Types of neuron
5.3 The role of neurons
5.4 How neurons perform their role?
5.5 Synapses
5.6 Some details of the brain
5.7 The somatic and autonomic nervous systems
6: A focus on pain and the nervous system
6.1 The periphery
6.2 The spinal cord
6.3 The brain
6.4 Anomalies of pain
6.5 Relating nociceptive pain to psychogenic pain
7: Treating pain
7.1 Chemical interventions
7.2 Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation
7.3 Surgical intervention
7.4 Psychological intervention
8: Placebo effects
8.1 Explaining the placebo effect
8.2 The psychobiology of the placebo effect
8.3 Implications of the placebo effect
9: Final word
9.1 A challenging puzzle
9.2 Revelance of the meaning of 'psychological' and 'psychogenic'
9.3 Practical implications

The specification in this catalogue, including without limitation price, format, extent, number of illustrations, and month of publication, was as accurate as possible at the time the catalogue was compiled. Occasionally, due to the nature of some contractual restrictions, we are unable to ship a specific product to a particular territory. Jacket images are provisional and liable to change before publication.